Lukoil widens Middle Eastern footprin

摘要

Bringing West Qurna 2 on stream cements Lukoil’s position as Russia’s leading overseas operator.Expansion outside Russia is vital for the firm,given the lack of opportunities at home,where large new fields are ring-fenced for state-con-trolled firms Rosneft and Gazprom. West Qurna is Lukoil’s largest over-seas project,and the firm will start to collect a$1.15/bl remuneration fee plus cost recovery at the end of June.It will receive payment in kind with crude and has signed a$90bn contract with its offtaker,Litasco,for its share of the field’s crude.Litasco aims to sell 60pc of the crude to Asia-Pacific,with 30pc sold on the spot market.